Adjusting after being abroad and the end of this blog

On the drive home the day we flew back a pheasant flew into the van windshield, so we had to get a new windshield right away.

Barry had to travel just a few days after we were back.

It was a short summer, since we got back in July. School started in mid-August, and it felt very surreal that our trip had even happened. We got busy with all the usual stuff here. It was great to see family and friends again, and Manhattan had changed a bit while we were gone (mostly new stores, etc)

[time passed]

And just like that it's April 2016....and I'm finally finishing this blog. We loved our whole trip to Australia. Barry and I have had many conversations about the trip and how we hope it impacted our children.

Living abroad at this stage of our life definitely changed us in some ways. We lived in a furnished home without all of our "stuff" and it was great. We are slowly de-cluttering now that we are home and are happier with less. We suspected/hoped this would happen!

We've always valued travel and seeing the world. Barry and I met after both being accepted into a program to do an internship in Greece, so I guess you could argue that our relationship blossomed around travel as we spent our first summer together backpacking Europe and working in Greece. We've always tried to squeeze travel in since then, and it was quite the adventure taking three kids along.

We first talked about living in Australia in 2002 or 2003 as a dream for our future. We finally made that dream come true (thanks to K-State, Fulbright, and CSIRO). A few have asked us "What's next?" We don't know, but you can bet we'll come up with something. For now, it's nice to slow down a bit and enjoy the normalcy of regular life.

None of this dream could have happened without this guy right here. His intelligence, humbleness, love of family, and humor, are all things I cherish and admire about him. He provides for our family and makes our dreams come true. Thanks Barry!

[more time passed]

And just like that it's December 2018...and I've finally finally finished this blog. It's been a labor of love, but one I will cherish now that it's complete. We still love travel and have done some family trips since. In May 2017, we took Hannah and Kiernan to Rome, Italy. Barry has of course visited many more countries and we have some upcoming international travel planned in the coming two years.

I hope you've enjoyed the blog. My intention was to write it mostly to keep track of our memories of the trip and have a record of what we did. If I entertained some along the way with our adventures that's good too.

Sarah